


Dad's Monster

by LaughterWrites



Category: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: HLVRAI, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, Post Game, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 12:35:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24849886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaughterWrites/pseuds/LaughterWrites
Summary: Joshua's dad is a scientist at a very secretive company, which makes life weird enough.When his dad comes home from work with a missing hand, severe PTSD, and a freaky new boyfriend, things only get weirder.
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman
Comments: 56
Kudos: 731
Collections: HLVRAI, HLVRAI Fics





	Dad's Monster

**Author's Note:**

> Slow burn speedrun, let's go babeyyyy

It's been two years since his dad came home with no hand. 

Joshua, who was only five (and three quarters) at the time, didn't completely understand what had happened. He came home from his babysitter's house, and his dad had a cool new robot hand. And then sometimes his dad would wake up at night, yelling. Some nights Josh would have to stay at the babysitter's because his dad just couldn't sleep. 

When Joshua was six, _he_ started coming by. 

He just showed up at the door one day. Baseball cap pulled low. when Josh answered the door, the man smiled like the Grinch. "Hey little shit. Where's your pops?" 

Josh shook his head wildly "Dad says not to open the door to strangers, though." 

"Ah, of course," he said, "Sucks to be you, though, you already opened the door. Where's Papa Feetman, Tiny Feetman? Tell me or I'll... I dunno. Eat your dad." 

With a shaking hand, Josh pointed to the hallway that lead to his dad's room. 

When the man walked into the room, his dad screamed, louder than any nightmare-scream. Josh ran to his room, hid under the bed, and cried. It felt like hours before his dad walked into the room and laid down on the carpet next to him. 

"Did you see that man?" He asks softly.

Joshua nods. "Who was he, dad?" 

"Someone I thought was long gone. Don't worry, buddy. He won't hurt us or anything like that. He's just a... he's just a bit of a bully." 

-

The man didn't stop showing up after that day, though. The opposite, really. Every time with a hat on or his hood pulled low. Joshua didn't trust this man, even if he helped his dad stop shouting at night. Even if he made his dad smile. 

The man with the dark eyes and the Grinch smile was bad. He was bad and Joshua was going to prove it. A whole year went by of the man coming over. Only Josh could see the truth about the man. He has to be some sort of alien ghost monster that took over his dad's friend's body and was rude and ate all the cereal but never ever went to the bathroom. 

He called himself Benrey but sometimes Josh had trouble with Rs. Josh called him Benny. Benrey must've had trouble with a lot of letters, because he pronounced "Joshua" as "little shit". Josh knows what the word shit means, his dad told him, but also said it was a bad word. More proof that Benrey was evil. 

Josh also never saw Benrey's hair. He knew what that meant. He was bald. Everyone knows that bald people are evil. 

When Josh brought this up to his dad, he looked hurt for a moment. "What about Mr. Bubby? Is he evil?" 

Josh nods. "So is benny. They...." he hops off the sofa to check underneath it. Once, Benrey had hidden underneath it to grab Goldfish that he dropped while watching cartoons. "I think Benny and Bubby are both _monsters,_ dad." 

His dad cracks a smile. "Maybe they are. Maybe they're secretly not people. maybe Tommy and I snuck into the top secret rooms at my work and we found that some scientists had made people, a new kind of people. What do you think of that?" 

"Fuckin' cool!" 

"Hey!" he shouts, "Where did you learn that word?" 

"Benny says it. He says that you're fuckin' nice." 

"Don't say fuckin'." 

"Is it an evil word?" 

His dad pauses. "Not really? Just a bad word." 

"So only bad people say it?" 

"Some... uh. Some of the people who say it are bad? You should not say it, though." 

The dots connect in Josh's head. _Benrey is fuckin' Bad._

-

It's been two years since his dad got a cool new robot hand. Benrey is still around. Josh is eight now, and understands that something bad happened to his dad. Really, really bad. Bad enough that he had to get a dog to help him stay calm when Benny isn't around. Tommy made the dog, so it's not a real dog, but its not evil. The dog is bright white and looks like a husky. Tommy named it Sprite. Rs are still hard sometimes, so Josh calls it Spite. Benrey finds this hilarious. Benrey is evil.

Sprite knows Benrey is a monster, too. She growls at him sometimes, and she never ever ever ever growls at anyone else. Only Benrey. 

"Dogs know when people aren't people" Josh tells Benrey one day. 

Benrey grins his too-wide smile. "I'm not a person. Are you a person, little shit?" 

"Spite will eat you." 

"Bet." Benrey says through a bite of cereal. (Josh's cereal, Lucky Charms, that he got as a treat for not biting anybody at the grocery store) 

-

Benrey's mouth is full of paint. 

Josh knows not to eat paint. Teacher says that eating paint is toxic. But benrey is full of paint. Sometimes the paint comes out, in bright floaty bubbles. They end up splattered on the walls but when it dries it's clear, so Josh didn't know about the paint for a while. Until he has a nightmare one night. 

He dreams that Benrey is suddenly huge, and is going to eat his dad in a spoonful of Lucky Charms. His dad is swimming in the milk and keeps shouting that he's lactose intolerant but Benrey doesn't listen and gulps him down. 

Josh wakes up with tears pouring down his face. He runs down the hallway to his dad's room and opens the door slowly. 

Inside, he sees his dad sleeping with Benrey next to him, sitting on the bed. Benrey is making a noise, a soft melodic hum, and light blue bubbles of paint are falling from his mouth, splashing onto his dad's chest. Suddenly, Benrey's head snaps over to look at him and the balls of paint change color, from light blue to harsh red. 

"Dad! Wake up!" Josh shouts. 

Gordon startles awake and reaches for Benrey, looking around frantically. He calms down as his eyes settle on Joshua, who runs over and clings to his dad. 

"Dad! He was drooling paint on you!" Josh shouts, trying to pull his dad away from Benrey, who is angrily wiping splashes of blue and red from around his face. 

"Shh, shh shh, its okay Joshua, Benrey does that sometimes, don't worry. Don't worry." 

Tears fall from Josh's eyes as he continues to tug on his dad's arm. 

"Fuck off, kiddo," Benrey says, flicking some of the blue stuff ( _Maybe not paint_ , thinks Joshua, _too shiny_ )

Josh's dad shoots Benrey a pointed look before turning back to his crying son. "Hey buddy, how about I read you a story, to prove I'm okay? Huh?" 

-

For his ninth birthday, three years after his dad's work "accident" and two-and-a-half years since Benrey first showed up, Josh gets a book. "Daddy, Papa, and me." he reads witha grimace. "Dad, this is a _baby_ book." 

"Well uh." His dad says, looking embarrassed, "I just wanted to uh.. I don't know... explain some stuff about_"

"Your pops and I kiss a lot." Benrey interrupts. We kiss all the time. A big smoochyfest."

"Gross." Josh says, sticking his tongue out. 

"Yea hella gross." Benrey says, "Now open mine, I got you duct tape and some trucks, I'm gonna tape them to your feet and see how fast you can go." 

-

One day, when Benrey is out of the house, Josh works up the courage to ask his dad a question. 

"Dad... is Benrey... a human?" he asks, lacing and unlacing his fingers together. 

His dad smiles softly. "No, he's not." 

"Is he... is he evil?"

"Sometimes, sure. He says bad words and yells at people in the grocery store." 

Josh shakes his head "No like evil-evil. Is he a bad guy?" 

"No, Joshy. Benrey isn't a bad guy." 

"But he used to be." Josh says matter-of-factly. "He used to be an evil monster." 

His dad shrugs, lifting Josh up to bounce him on his leg, "I don't think it's as simple as all that, bud. People can change over time, you know that." 

"Like how you got a new hand?" Josh says. 

His dad shrugs. "I guess? Kinda? Sure. Benrey changed inside." 

"Ah. That's why he's full of paint." 

-

Benrey isn't human. Josh is 14 now and he knows that for sure. But Benrey loves his dad, and Benrey loves Josh, in his own, weird, and stupid way.

"Are you gonna live forever, Ben?" Josh asks. 

Benrey shrugs. "Hope not. that sounds that it would be a bit shit." 

"Yeah. You'd be shitty company for yourself. having to listen to yourself forever and ever." 

"Might be better than listening to you, twirp," Benrey snaps. 

"I kinda hope you live forever, though. At least longer than my dad. I think he needs you." Josh says with a frown. 

"Your dad has his own monsters, dude." Benrey says coldly, "But he's uh. He's pretty strong. He can fight them himself." 

**Author's Note:**

> Blue to red means "babe pls put ur kid to BED" 
> 
> uhh.... [my tumblr](https://sucrefemme.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Leave me comments if ur feelin extra sexy this fine day uwu uwu

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Dad's Monster Boyfriend](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25212934) by [rabbtboi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rabbtboi/pseuds/rabbtboi)




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